My guide to the garment district

My blogging has been about as slow as my sewing lately. A crazy work schedule, a bit of a flu, and the usual stuff.

However in case anyone has a trip to the garment district planned here is my person itinerary:

I have organized this so you work your way across by street so there is no turning back. I have also included a lunch place more or less in the middle.

Things you need to know about shopping in the garment district:

1. This is a place for special not bargains. If you want bargains go to NorthWest Fabrics on Berry Street in Winnipeg which is sort of out of the way for this itinerary.

2. The many ground floor stores tend not to be the good ones, for fabric that is. A lot of show fabrics and sequins but not garment fabrics unless you work in Vegas.

3. In many cases you have to go up a few floors in an elevator of what looks like an office building to find the fabric store, which may be crammed full of bolts.

4. The staff in these places work. This is not Joann's or Fabricville where you browse and then take your fabric over to be cut. These folks work it - think personal shopper. When you go in they ask what you are interested in and they start pulling bolts and making suggestions. They find things for you and tell you honestly if it suits you. This is very helpful because there is so much and it can be overwhelming - the expectation is that the sales staff shop with you.

OK here is where I would go and why:

1. Elliott Berman -  225 West 35th, 7th floor. Start here because they are the best. You don't want to blow your budget and then go to Elliot Berman. The fabric is leading edge and unique - new fabric just released from the European mills for the season for example. A little pricey but totally worth it. I got an incredible knit and a rayon challis for $15 and $20 a yard each which was not outrageous since they are beyond cool. (Fabric pictures will be posted when I have more time.) Service is superb.

2. Botani: Buttons and fashion hardware. 263 West 36th. Just go there. I can't describe it. A whole room full of purse making accessories and 40 million buttons. High end but special. They covered my buckles and will dye buttons to match with a few days notice.

3. Mood - 225 West 37th. Third floor. You have to go to Mood too. It is the Garment District's department store. Three floors of everything and wonderful hardworking staff. A full range of fabrics so if you can't find it anywhere else Mood will have it. I got some cottons for summer, silk jersey, ponte and a beautiful coating I am afraid to cut into here.

4. SIL Thread - 257 West 38th Street level. YKK zippers, threads and notions in such quantity that it makes your head spin. Every, every colour. Many of the zippers are 36" as the standard and they cut and finish to size for you while you wait.

5. Pacific Trimming: 220 West 38th Street level. You name it they got it. Buttons, trims and all points in between. I actually prefer them to the more expensive if better known M&J Trim on Sixth.

6. Paron's Fabrics: 257 West 39th.  Street level.  Great quality of conventional fabrics - wool suitings and boucles for example. I picked up a great Linton tweed here for a Channel jacket. Good value for the quality. 

7. Chic Fabrics: 225 West 39th Street level. Really the best prices in the district, particularly for dress cottons and silk - not as fashion forward but solid quality. I got two dress cotton prints here.

Lunch?

I would go to Ben's Kosher Deli 209 West 38th. It is big there so there is lots of room for all your bags of fabric and the food is nourishing. I like the Matzo Ball chicken soup and a tea when I need to regroup.

The New York garment district though my eyes

It's been almost two weeks since I got back from New York and I have still to write about my experiences in the garment district (where I also stayed, just in case).

There is a lot to digest. And as I am sure nearly every other blogger has a better knowledge of this community than I do,  what I have to say probably isn't very complete, insightful, or useful.


However if you are a person who is tied to finding whatever they can at the local big box or small box chain fabric store, or someone who orders online and dreams of a world where the fabric is as big as your dreams, if you haven't spent much actual time in this part of the big city yourself, well these are my thoughts.


1. I have seen this part before, the remnants of the schmatta business, from friends of my mother's who used to manufacture in Montreal before re-locating production to China. To a New Yorker what isn't there any more is probably as acutely apparent as what is. The garment district of today is an echo I suspect. But still...


Yes, there are innumerable small shops ( apart from Mood they are all pretty small) selling enormous quantities of sequined chiffon and stuff most of us don't wear, but the actual garment fabric stores that sewers look for are wonderful, but quite numerable.


What you find in the garment district is real quality, not quantity, get that straight.


2. Look up. If you bring your eyes from home you are going to expect to see the best stores on the street. Not so. Mood and Metro for example are on floors in what looks like office buildings - you go into an elevator just like you are going to the dentist except the doors open and there is fabric - messy, gorgeous fabric. Much better.


3. The area is a subsidiary of the garment industry not the home sewing industry, so this is a place for different, for distinctive more than it is for staples.


I understand now why sewists who live in New York (yes that would be you Carolyn) still buy big from places like Fabricmart. The garment district is where you find boucles, mohairs, tweeds, wool and silk jerseys, but not a place where you load up on bargain pant weight for instance.


I got myself some nice Linton tweed and some $40 a yard wool jersey with yarn sort of couched on it and I am still short the pant weight.


But lack of bargains aside ( although I got an excellent deal on the Linton tweed) did I like it there?


You have no idea.


Do you ever have those moments where you just wonder where all the good fabric has gone? Do you ever go into the local fabric store and decide that you are just so tired of trying to persuade yourself that a blend is the same as, that maybe polyesters do actually breath? Do you just walk in and walk out because you just aren't in the mood that day to lower your expectations?


Do you ever just wonder if you will see real fabric again in your life time? The 100% thing, the best there is, the fabric you won't do anything less than your best job on, because that is what it requires?


Do you ever wonder if it's all gone?


Well in the garment district it's all there, an outpost really, of when fabric was fine.  You can shop there like they did in the 1920s, the 1950's with your hands in fabric that would have met standards then and meets them now.


To a sewer, going to the garment district is just well, a relief.


A relief.


And here are my pictures:

My coat of a few weeks ago on the street with my most excellent and beautiful son Nat walking beside me. He looks like he belongs there doesn't he? He does.

The famous Mood Fabrics which is vast and organized and on several levels in a big building.

Me at Metro. Note the trance like look on my face, your face looks like that if you finally are in a place you have been trying to get to for thirty years. Note the calculator adding it all up.

Metro Textiles, on a 9th floor I think. A tiny space with fabric rolls and rolls deep. It reminded me of my husband's garage - only the owner knows where what's what but everything still seems to be there.

Will I go back?

You better believe it. As soon as I can. If there was such a thing as a garment district passport I would apply for it. 

Now next time, or sometime, if you want to meet up with me there, just email me direct so we can find each other.